Former Supreme Court justice Markandey Katju, who had triggered a controversy over his anti-Odia comments, on Saturday regarded Odias as smart people with a sense of humour.

Katju took to Facebook to praise Odias after he received a bouquet of flowers and a note from Delhi Odia Students Association at his residence in Noida on Saturday.

The words written on the note were "Get well soon Mr. Katju. Jai Jagannath"

"While earlier I regarded most of you as stupid and humourless, now I regard you as smart and with a sense of humour (as all intelligent people have)," said the former Supreme Court judge.

Katju on Friday apologised to the people of Odisha after his controversial comment triggered statewide outrage.

"I had written the post in a light vein.

However, if Odia people are feeling hurt, I apologise to them. I had no intention of hurting their feelings and was only joking, just as I had joked about Biharis, Tamilians, etc.," his Facebook post read.

On his October 10 Facebook post, Katju had written: "I was asked to write about the Oriyas (Odias). What is there to write about these poor chaps? Ever since they got a thrashing at the hands of Ashoka in the battle of Kalinga, they have been a dejected lot. Now all they have with them are a lot of pots (Patras), big pots (Mahapatras) and supposedly intelligent kings (Patnaiks)."

"And of course they have Lord Jagannath, to whom they pray every day for revenge on the abominable Biharis," he said.

--IANS

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